System for automatically transferring account information, such as information regarding a financial services account

ABSTRACT

A system for transferring a customer&#39;s account information from one account to a new account is described. The system utilizes a switch kit application and associated system that can determine services at the old account and facilitate the transfer of these services to the new account.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.11/332,651, filed Jan. 13, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,884,519 which is acontinuation of International Application No. PCT/US2005/021546 filedJun. 17, 2005, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/581,056 filed Jun. 18, 2004, all of which are incorporated byreference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Automation has spread from within financial institutions, to networkingamong financial institutions, and now to consumers themselves. Consumersor bank customers can now electronically access information and makechanges to their accounts via devices such as automatic teller machines(ATMs) and networked computers. For example, customers may access theiraccounts online (via the Internet) if they have access to a computer andassociated software (such as web browser software). Customers can notonly transfer funds via their own computers, but also pay bills andconduct other transactions once they have provided the appropriateinformation or otherwise set up their online account to perform suchtransactions.

When a customer moves from one bank to another, however, some problemscan arise. Transferring bank account information from one or morefinancial institutions to a new financial institution require customersto manually close their old bank accounts and to manually reestablishpreviously existing services at their new bank accounts. Under the newbank accounts, customers manually reestablish information, such as theirlist of bill pay payees, bill pay payment schedule, scheduled transfers,electronic bills (“eBills”), and automatic debits and credits. Theprocess of manually reestablishing old bank account services at the newbank account can be inefficient and can waste time, energy, andresources. Additional problems, of course, exist.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of components for a system fortransferring account information and protocols from a BrandX financialinstitution to another institution.

FIG. 2 illustrates a workflow or data diagram of the system of FIG. 1for transferring account information and protocols.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention will now be described with respect to various embodiments.The following description provides specific details for a thoroughunderstanding of, and enabling description for, these embodiments of theinvention. However, one skilled in the art will understand that theinvention may be practiced without these details. In other instances,well-known structures and functions have not been shown or described indetail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of theembodiments of the invention.

It is intended that the terminology used in the description presentedbelow be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though itis being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certainspecific embodiments of the invention. Certain terms may even beemphasized below; however, any terminology intended to be interpreted inany restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as suchin this Detailed Description section.

Embodiments of the invention relate to a system for transferring acustomer's accounts from one or more financial institutions to anotherinstitution, such as Washington Mutual. The system utilizes an ASK(Automated Switch Kit) Application that facilitates the automatictransfer of account information and protocols from an old bank accountto a new bank account. The system leverages account aggregationfunctionality, inter-bank funds transfer capability, and alertfunctionality, among other things. Account aggregation refers to theconsolidation of personal account data (e.g., bank accounts, investment,loans, mortgages, bills, etc.) into a single view screen (generallywithin an Internet browser) using aggregation technology.

The ASK Application can determine services at an old bank account andfacilitate the transfer of these services to a new bank account. The ASKApplication contains code or functionality to determine bill pay payeesat an old bank account and to add the bill pay payees to a bill payservice at a new bank account, including closing the old bank bill payservice if applicable. The ASK Application can determine bill paypayments at the old bank account and add the bill pay payments to thenew bank account's bill pay service, including canceling paymentsscheduled on the old bank account service, if applicable. The ASKApplication can also determine scheduled transfers or variable paymentinstructions at the old bank account and move the same schedule to thenew bank account, if applicable, or create output to allow for customerdecision regarding these transfers (e.g., schedule through inter-banktransfers). Similarly, the ASK Application can update bill payinformation at third party sites, such as providing the account androuting numbers from the customer's new account to a third party sitehaving the previous information.

In addition, the ASK Application can determine if any electronic bills(“eBills”) are registered at or through the old bank account and cancancel registration at the old bank account before enrolling to receivethe eBills at the new bank account. eBills refer to electronic copies ofa bill from a payee. eBills are often delivered online either inaddition to, or as a replacement for, a paper bill.

Furthermore, the ASK Application can identify payments likely to be paid(either monthly or other recurring time frames) from a credit or debitcard associated with the old bank account, and can move these paymentsto the new account, and cancel the payments from the old bank account.

Also, the ASK Application can mine personal finance management data(PFM), such as data from applications such as Microsoft's Money orIntuit's Quicken. The PFM data could be used in addition to or in lieuof data obtained from other sources (e.g. financial institution websites) to perform its functions (e.g. identify alerts, payments,transfers, ACHs, direct deposits, etc. . . . ). In addition, the ASKApplication could provide the PFM software with the updated accountinformation and access information.

The ASK Application can utilize techniques to facilitate the transfer ofinformation and services. The ASK Application can evaluate thetransaction history of an old bank account and create a report toevaluate likely automatic debits and credits, such as direct deposits,automatic billing through a debit card, and ACH (Automatic ClearingHouse) withdrawals. The ASK Application can also leverage output toautomatically migrate transactions or to provide a customer or bank withrecommended actions based on items reported. For instance, if a localpower company has auto-debit on the old bank account, the ASKApplication can provide customers with the phone number or URL wherethey can change to a new bank account. Such information can beaccumulated for/from multiple third parties and provided to customers orbank employees or systems in a report. In addition, the ASK Applicationcan monitor transactions on both the old bank accounts and the new bankaccounts to report any suspected transaction clearings and takeappropriate action. In one instance, if a Direct Deposit posts to theold bank account, the ASK Application could initiate an inter-banktransfer to move the Direct Deposit to the new bank account.

In some embodiments, the ASK Application accesses data from both publicand privates sources (e.g., Experian, LexisNexis, etc.) and compileslikely payments or other items needing migration regardless of thesource. In some cases, depending upon the level of authorization fromthe customer, the application can utilize a soft or hard credit inquiryreport to obtain the appropriate information (tradeline information).

In some embodiments, the ASK Application allows customers (includingvendors/merchants utilizing the application) to participate inidentifying certain transactional services to be switched by the ASKApplication. For example, a wireless phone company could participate toensure any scheduled payments from a mutual customer are updated toreflect the new account information without missing payment dates ordisrupting service. The phone company may provide the ASK Applicationwith descriptions of how their transactions should post on banktransaction records (e.g. “Major Wireless Auto-pay XXYYYY”) to helpidentify the transactions and then to allow updates directly from thenew bank on behalf of the customer to their billing information. The ASKApplication may accept customer input from any of the channels the ASKApplication interfaces for information, such as the Internet,Interactive Voice Response (IVR), call centers, and so on.

In addition to customers with personal accounts, in some embodiments theASK Application supports and works with information related to smallbusiness and other commercial entities. The ASK application facilitatesthe transfer of information relating to electronic invoicing, electronicremittances, Delegate authorities, and other services designed forcommercial use.

In an alternative embodiment, The ASK Application analyzes relationshipsand other information between the customer and products utilized by thecustomer. This allows the ASK Application to provide products and otherservices offered by the new institution (such as Washington Mutual),that may be desirable to the customer. In some instances, the ASKApplication collects ancillary information (e.g. the rate offered on asavings account, the maturity date on CDs, and so on) and can providethe customer with desirable offerings based on the collectedinformation. For example, the ASK Application creates a flag on thematurity date of a CD purchased by the customer at the previousinstitution. The application then uses the flag to alert the new bankwhen the CD approaches maturation, and the new bank can then provide abetter offering to the customer.

The ASK Application may determine account set-up preferences for acustomer, and facilitate the set-up of a new account based upon thesepreferences. For example, the Application may determine that a customerreceived only online bank statements from the old bank account and willfacilitate the set-up the new bank account with this same service. (Inthis example, the customer may first need to take some action such asaccepting an electronic consent agreement if he or she has not already.)Likewise, in some embodiments the ASK application gleans otherinformation contained in an old bank account, such as check numberspreviously used by the customer, and sets up the new bank accountaccordingly (e.g. order checks with a later starting number). Inaddition to preference and other information, the ASK application canalso capture online documents associated with the customer from the oldbank account, and transfer them to an electronic storage facilitydedicated to the customer with the new account.

FIG. 1 and the following discussion provide a brief, general descriptionof a suitable computing environment in which aspects of the inventioncan be implemented. Thereafter, details on embodiments of the inventionare provided. Although not required, aspects and embodiments of theinvention will be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as routines executed by ageneral-purpose computer, e.g., a server or personal computer. Thoseskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the invention can bepracticed with other computer system configurations, including Internetappliances, hand-held devices, wearable computers, cellular or mobilephones, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers,mainframe computers and the like. The invention can be embodied in aspecial purpose computer or data processor that is specificallyprogrammed, configured or constructed to perform one or more of thecomputer-executable instructions explained in detail below. Indeed, theterm “computer”, as used generally herein, refers to any of the abovedevices, as well as any data processor.

The invention can also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments, where tasks or modules are performed by remote processingdevices, which are linked through a communications network, such as aLocal Area Network (“LAN”), Wide Area Network (“WAN”) or the Internet.In a distributed computing environment, program modules or sub-routinesmay be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. Aspectsof the invention described herein may be stored or distributed oncomputer-readable media, including magnetic and optically readable andremovable computer discs, stored as firmware in chips (e.g., EEPROMchips), as well as distributed electronically over the Internet or overother networks (including wireless networks). Those skilled in therelevant art will recognize that portions of the invention may reside ona server computer, while corresponding portions reside on a clientcomputer. Data structures and transmission of data particular to aspectsof the invention are also encompassed within the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of the components of an ASK systemfor transferring account information and protocols from a BrandXfinancial institution to a new bank or financial institution. A customer102 contacts the new bank through either a Financial Institution branch104 (by direct, in-person interaction between customer and branch or byphone or fax with a branch), or a Call Center 106, or Internet Site 108for the financial institution, to access a New Account Application 110.Once a new account has been opened, an ASK (Automated Switch Kit)Application 114 can be used to automatically transfer some or all of acustomer's accounts from one or more previous financial institutions tothe new bank. The ASK Application 114 obtains the customer's old orprior account information by contacting a BrandX Call Center 124(through a Computer/Telephony Controller 120 and a PSTN (Public SwitchedTelephone Network) 122), or by contacting a BrandX Internet Site 118(through an Internet 116), or mining data from other sources (e.g. PFM,credit reports, etc. . . . ) as explained below. The ASK Application mayalso receive data from other data sources 140, such as PFM, creditreports, publicly available information, etc.

If the old account information is masked or otherwise incomplete, theASK Application 114 identifies the incomplete information and takesfurther steps as appropriate, such as prompting the customer to providethe complete information. For example, the ASK Application can identifythat “****1234” is likely masked account number, and in response, promptfor customer intervention or additional information.

Once the ASK Application 114 has the account information from the BrandXfinancial institution, it updates the previously opened account at thenew bank and generates an Aggregation/Exception Report 112 that reportsexceptions to the scheduled payments to the new bank, as well as thecancellation of payments to BrandX financial institution. The ASKApplication 114 may generate three separate reports 134 using threeservers: a eBills/Payments Server 126, a Transfers/Wire Transfers Server128, and an Alerts Server 130, which respectively generate one or morereports 134, such as a eBills/Payments Report, a Transfers/WireTransfers Report, and an Alerts Report. Examples of data provided by theeBills/Payments Reports include the following: “payment could not bedeleted/error”, “payments deleted as requested”, “payment frequenciesdid not match”, and “verify new frequency” (e.g., BrandX sends paymentson Saturdays and the new bank does not so move the payment to the nextday). Examples of data provided by the Transfers/Wire Transfers Reportsinclude the following: “transfer could not be deleted/error” and “wiretransfer completed”. Examples of data provided by the Alerts Reportsinclude the following: “requested alert not canceled”, “alert notavailable”, and “alert method not recognized”. All three reports 134 aresent to both the customer 102 (hard copy, to the customer's computer, orboth) and to a back office computer 132 for processing.

In some embodiments, a customer verifies and authorizes the informationcontained in the reports 134 discussed above. For example, a customermay receive a report explaining that “bill payments A and B were deletedfrom BrandX bank and added to bill pay at [new bank], and transfers Cand D were deleted from BrandX bank and added to transfers at [newbank].” The customer then verifies the information to be true andauthorizes the ASK Application to finalize the switch described in thereport.

In some embodiments, the report flags obtained information requiringfurther customer input (e.g. masked or incomplete account information).

Although the output of information has generally been described withrespect to reports, the ASK Application 114 is able to disseminateinformation to many sources in a variety of formats, such as in a datafeed to a dynamic marketing system, in addition to the report formatdiscussed above. The ASK Application 114 works with end users receivingthe output information, and may send the information in either batch orreal-time modes. In addition, the Application can configure the batchmodes individually for each received system or end user (one system mayreceived a report batch every minute while another may receive a reportbatch daily).

In one embodiment, the ASK Application 114 obtains electronic payee dataand other information from the customer's old bank account using ascreen scraping function, which captures data from a system via itsdisplay. Other methods are of course possible. For example, a companysuch as CheckFree (http://www.checkfree.com/) provides many banks withelectronic bill paying functions. Thus, the ASK Application could accessCheckFree databases to automatically gather old account dataelectronically, and transfer this data to new account records stored inthe new bank's databases.

The ASK Application 114 monitors the new customer's old bank account byautomatically and periodically logging onto the old bank account websiteusing the customer's old credentials (e.g. username and password) withthat site. The time period for logging onto the old bank account can becustomized to provide the best service. If the old bank account postedits ACH (Automatic Clearing House) transfers and direct deposits at acertain time each day, then the ASK Application 114 could be programmedto monitor the old bank account immediately following that time to givethe customer maximum time to react. One embodiment leverages theservices of an aggregation technology company, such as Yodlee(http://corporate.yodlee.com/), to enhance the current aggregationfunctionality of the ASK Application 114. A company such as Yodlee couldprovide the type of development needed for the proper aggregation orscreen scraping pieces of the ASK Application 114. External companiesthat could enhance aspects of the system would include companiesproficient in account aggregation technology (e.g., Yodlee, CheckFree,and S1), inter-bank transfers functionality and ACH functionality (e.g.,CheckFree, CashEdge), and Alert functionality (e.g., KANA, GoogleAlerts, MSN Alerts, Yahoo Alerts, eBay Alerts). These companies or othercompanies proficient in similar fields could enhance the capabilities ofthe system by providing development and specific expertise intofunctional components of the ASK Application 114. The ASK Application114, therefore, is able to aggregate information and eBills frommultiple sites (e.g. online bill pay sites, brokerages, and so on) andperform a single switch request to obtain the information at themultiple sites.

The ASK Application 114 may employ speech recognition to gatherinformation from the BrandX Call Center 124 via IVR (Interactive VoiceResponse). The use of speech recognition, which provides IVR scrapingcapabilities, may provide a cheaper and faster way to obtain dailybalance updates by scraping information from IVRs instead of from theInternet. In addition, IVRs provide fewer navigation options, allowingIVRs to be more easily maintained and navigated from a systemperspective.

In an alternative embodiment, the ASK Application 114 may employ opticalcharacter recognition (OCR) to gather information on the BrandX account.OCR utilizes an optical scanner for reading text, and software foranalyzing scanned images. The optical scanner could scan a statement andanalyze the scanned statement for information such as direct deposits orACH transactions that may be missed from a human reviewing the accountmanually. In addition, if a customer was uncomfortable with the new bankchecking their old accounts at BrandX financial institution, OCR couldbe used to review past statements without checking the old accounts atBrandX financial institution. Also, the input/output could be thescanning of known bills or statements to automate or pre-populate billpay or form letters for the customers to send to terminate serviceselsewhere or to help automatically input data to the new account for newitems.

In some cases, the ASK Application 114 works within the Open FinancialExchange (OFX) specification, and utilizes OFX methods to gatherinformation from BrandX accounts and submit information to new accounts.

The BrandX Bank may attempt to stop the ASK Application 114 fromtransferring account information from its online account to the newbank's online account. By monitoring exception reports (e.g., datascrape failed “x” times) and by keeping monitoring accounts at BrandXBank and monitoring those accounts for changes, the ASK Application 114can avoid blocking. If BrandX Bank uses variable log-on credentials(e.g., a random identifier selected from a list of ten identifiers), theASK Application 114 can detect the requested information and accuratelyprovide it. Other blocking mechanisms, such as words embedded in images,can be overcome by real-time prompting to employees at the back-officecomputers 132 to complete the information. In an alternative embodiment,some or all of the functionality of the ASK Application 114 runs as aclient application on the customer's computer and gathers the relevantinformation from BrandX Bank, and then provides the gathered informationto the new bank server computer. The client application may bedownloaded from the new bank's server computer when the new account isestablished.

Aspects of the invention may be practiced in a variety of othercomputing environments. For example, referring to FIG. 1, a distributedcomputing environment with a web interface includes one or more usercomputers, each of which includes a browser program module that permitsthe computer to access and exchange data with the Internet 116,including web sites within the World Wide Web portion of the Internet.The user computers may include one or more central processing units orother logic-processing circuitry, memory, input devices (e.g., keyboardsand pointing devices), output devices (e.g., display devices andprinters), and storage devices (e.g., magnetic, fixed and floppy diskdrives, and optical disk drives). User computers may include otherprogram modules such as an operating system, one or more applicationprograms (e.g., word processing or spread sheet applications), and thelike. The user computers can include wireless computers, such as mobilephones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), palm-top computers, etc.,which communicate with the Internet via a wireless link. The computersmay be general-purpose devices that can be programmed to run varioustypes of applications, or they may be single-purpose devices optimizedor limited to a particular function or class of functions.

At least one server computer (126/128/130), coupled to the Internet orWorld Wide Web (“Web”), performs much or all of the functions forreceiving, routing and storing of electronic messages, such as webpages, audio signals and electronic images. While the Internet is shown,a private network, such as an Intranet may likewise be used herein. Thenetwork may have a client-server architecture, in which a computer isdedicated to serving other client computers, or it may have otherarchitectures such as a peer-to-peer, in which one or more computersserve simultaneously as servers and clients. A database or databasescoupled to the server computer(s), stores much of the web pages andcontent exchanged between the user computers. The server computer(s),including the database(s), may employ security measures to inhibitmalicious attacks on the system, and to preserve integrity of themessages and data stored therein (e.g., firewall systems, secure socketlayers (SSL), password protection schemes, encryption, and the like).

The server computer (126/128/130) may include a server engine, a webpage management component, a content management component and a databasemanagement component. The server engine performs basic processing andoperating system level tasks. The web page management component handlescreation and display or routing of web pages. Users may access theserver computer by means of a URL associated therewith. The contentmanagement component handles most of the functions in the embodimentsdescribed herein. The database management component includes storage andretrieval tasks with respect to the database, queries to the database,and storage of data such as financial information.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the workflow of an ASK system fortransferring account information and protocols from the BrandX financialinstitution to the new bank. A customer comes to the new bank to open anew account and wants to close his or her account at BrandX financialinstitution (block 202). (Note: it is not a required condition toutilize the ASK system to transfer some of the services from BrandX tothe new bank.) The new bank opens the appropriate accounts (block 204).For the purpose of explaining the workflow of the ASK system, an examplewill be used to illustrate certain concepts. The example is not meant tobe definitive or all encompassing. In one embodiment, a customer comesto the new bank to open a new bank account and to close their bankaccount at BrandX Bank. The new bank performs the normal account openingoperations and offers to help the customer move and close out theirBrandX bank accounts.

The new bank determines whether the customer is a candidate for the ASKApplication (block 206). If the customer is not a suitable candidate,then a normal account opening process occurs (block 208). Under theexample, the customer agrees, so the new bank performs an assessment onthe customer's old BrandX bank account and determines that the customerwould benefit from using the ASK Application.

Where the customer is a suitable candidate, then the ASK system proceedswith the gathering of BrandX account information (includingauthentication information for BrandX IVR or internet bankingapplications), customer contact information (e.g., email address, pager,cell phone), and customer consent (block 210). Under the example, thenew bank starts the ASK Application and has the customer sign anyrequired documents to open a new account and legally provide access tothe old account.

Once the ASK system is initiated, the ASK system may use aggregationtechnology to query the BrandX Internet Site, other data sources, or anIVR (Interactive Voice Response) system (including using voice/speechrecognition technology) to capture account information and transactionactivity (block 214). The ASK system also analyzes data, performscorrect one-time actions, and establishes appropriate future actions(block 214). Thus, once the ASK Application starts, it goes to theonline banking site of BrandX and uses the customer's providedcredentials (e.g. User ID, challenge question, and password), anddetermines that the customer is using a BrandX scheduled transferservice, bill pay, eBills, and has Direct Deposits and ACH withdrawalsfrom the BrandX bank accounts. In addition to traditional User ID andpassword credentials, the ASK Application utilizes and supportsancillary credentials, including: federated ID management, digital IDmanagement, random log-on questions and answers, tokens, cookie basedIDs, one-time password systems (either time based or usage basedsystems) issued by software or hardware, 2^(nd) channel authenticationand other open-source or proprietary authentication methods.

The ASK Application can create a User ID and password for the customeror the customer can log in without providing the data for a one-timeevaluation only without monitoring (as explained herein).

Next, the ASK system establishes eBills/Payments (block 216),transfers/wire transfers (block 218), and alerts (block 220). The ASKApplication determines setup at BrandX and migrates payees, payments,transfers, alerts, and eBills to equivalents at the new bank or promptsfor validation (block 228). In other words, the ASK Application sets upthe same payees on the new bank's bill pay service, adds the scheduledpayments to the new bank, and cancels the payments on the BrandX bankaccount, reporting any exceptions and asking the customer to review andapprove the changes. The ASK Application then determines that somescheduled transfers exist, reports on the existing transfers, andmigrates the existing transfers to mapped accounts at the new bank(e.g., scheduled transfer of $50/month from checking to savings atBrandX is cancelled and a recurring transfer is set up at the new bankfrom the customer's new checking account to the customer's new savingsaccount). The ASK Application determines that the customer is enrolledto receive some eBills under the BrandX bank account and cancels thoseeBills at the BrandX bank account before enrolling the customer usingthe new bank's corresponding service, reports any exceptions, andprompts for any additional information that may be needed. Examples ofexceptions that could be reported include a message indicating that aneBiller requires some sort of additional task to be completed tounenroll (e.g., a phone call, e-mail, PIN number, or a code from thelast statement).

Appropriate documents are generated, pre-filled with accountinformation, and sent to the customer or new bank representative (block224). Thus, continuing with the example, the ASK Application analyzesthe BrandX transaction history and notes that there are two directdeposits (one Social Security deposit and one Company A deposit) and oneautomatic withdrawal (from MajorPUD). The ASK Application recognizes theSocial Security and MajorPUD transactions, provides specificinstructions on how to properly notify those entities of the newaccounts, and provides more generic instructions on how to resolve theCompany A direct deposit, including pre-printing forms, providing phonenumbers, or providing URLs.

The ASK Application then prompts the customer to determine if it shouldmonitor the new and/or old accounts for these or other transactions, fora specified duration, and what action needs to be taken (block 214). Inthe example, the customer determines that she will request all theservices to be moved over from their respective institutions, but alsowants the ASK Application to monitor things, and, if either directdeposit posts to the old account, to transfer the money to the new bankaccount. If the MajorPUD transaction posts, the customer would like tobe contacted and asked what action to take (block 220). The customerleaves the bank, closes their internet session, or hangs up if the ASKApplication is initiated through a back-office process and/or the backoffice calls the customer.

A customer can provide instructions on how to handle exceptions (block212). For example, the customer may try to change a Direct Deposit forCompany A, but is told that Company A's next Direct Deposit will stillgo to the BrandX bank account. The customer then contacts the new bankunder this example and asks that the new bank not transfer that amountwhen the next transaction occurs. The new bank notes the customer'srequest and sets up a flag in the ASK Application to not transfer thenext direct deposit from Company A, but to continue to process thepreviously requested transactions, and in this example, to transfer theSocial Security amount and to notify the customer if it detects anyother direct deposit transfers from Company A.

Exception reports/alerts are generated for transactions that do not meetthe predefined process criteria (block 222). For example, againcontinuing with the above example, the ASK Application monitors theBrandX bank accounts and the new bank account and detects an unlistedACH transfer in the BrandX bank account. Since the ASK Application hasnot been prompted with how to handle this situation, the ASK Applicationprompts the new bank and asks how to handle these transactions in thefuture. The new bank contacts the customer and asks how she would liketo handle the situation. The customer elects to do nothing and to ignorethose particular ACH transactions in the future.

E-mail, SMS, voicemail, or other alerts are sent to the customer and/orthe new bank back offices regarding the status of the BrandX account(block 226). The ASK Application continues to monitor transactions andlater determines that the BrandX bank account has reached a negativebalance and sends an alert. The ASK Application continues to monitor theBrandX bank account and determines that it has had the same balance for“X” days. The ASK Application sends an alert to notify that it appearsthat all transactions have cleared the account and that it may be safenow to close the account.

The above mentioned examples represent sample use cases meant toillustrate some of the ways that the ASK Application might function forthe given scenarios and is not meant to be all encompassing ordefinitive. Other options could be presented or available at any of theabove mentioned steps.

In an alternative embodiment, the ASK Application could apply to othertypes of financial institutions that may not technically be banks, aswell as to small businesses or commercial account switches. In somecase, the ASK Application interacts with brokerage accounts, credit cardaccounts, and other non-traditional financial services, such as eTrade,PayPal, ING, Countrywide, and so on.

In an alternative embodiment, the ASK Application supports andcollaborates with other switching systems. The ASK Application also canbe modified to incorporate new switching methods and systems, such asNACHA's proposed switch process. (NACHA is an industry organizationdeveloping specifications, which an industry developer may use todevelop interfaces between systems.)

The above detailed descriptions of embodiments of the invention are notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, theinvention are described above for illustrative purposes, variousequivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention,as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, whilecertain workflows for the ASK Application are provided, alternativeembodiments may employ different modules, blocks or functions to achievesimilar functionality or results. Additionally, while the ASK system isshown as having certain hardware components in FIG. 1, additional oralternative components may be provided (such as a single server, ratherthan, for example, the three servers 126, 128 and 130). While processesor blocks are at times shown as being performed or linked in series,these processes or blocks may instead be performed or connected inparallel.

Words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or pluralnumber may also include the plural or singular number respectively,where the context permits. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,”“below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application,shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particularportions of this application. When the claims use the word “or” inreference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of thefollowing interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, allof the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.

The teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to othersystems, not necessarily the system described herein. These and otherchanges can be made to the invention in light of the detaileddescription. The elements and acts of the various embodiments describedabove can be combined to provide further embodiments. Any patents,applications or other references, including any that may be listed inthe accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference.

These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of theabove detailed description. While the above description details certainembodiments of the invention and describes the best mode contemplated,no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can bepracticed in many ways. Details of configurations, functions, etc. mayvary considerably in implementation details, while still beingencompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above,particular terminology used when describing certain features, or aspectsof the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology isbeing re-defined herein to be restricted to any specificcharacteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which thatterminology is associated. In general, the terms used should not beconstrued to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosedin the specification, unless the above Detailed Description sectionexplicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of theinvention encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but also allequivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under theclaims.

While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certainclaim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of theinvention in any number of claim forms. For example, while only oneaspect of the invention is recited as embodied in a computer-readablemedium, other aspects may likewise be embodied in a computer-readablemedium. Accordingly, the inventors reserve the right to add additionalclaims after filing the application to pursue such additional claimforms for such aspects of the invention.

1. A system for facilitating automatic transfers of user account information from an old account to a new account, the system comprising: a first subsystem configured to access, over at least one network, an old electronic account of a user via a server associated with a first financial institution; a second subsystem configured to gather, from the old electronic account at the first financial institution, information related to vendor transactions associated with the old electronic account; and a third subsystem coupled among the first subsystem and the second subsystem, wherein the third subsystem is configured to access the server associated with the first financial institution and automatically transfer at least some of the gathered information related to vendor transactions to a new electronic account established for a user at a second financial institution different from and independent of the first financial institution.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the second subsystem is further configured to receive instructions from a third party vendor or merchant identifying a selected transactional service of the user to be switched from the old electronic account to the new electronic account.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the information comprises transaction services performed by the old electronic account of the user, including at least one of automatic bill payments, scheduled monetary transfers, or electronic bill data.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the information comprises transaction services performed via the old electronic account of the user, and wherein the services performed include payments for vendor transactions made by a credit card or a debit card associated with the old electronic account of the user.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the information comprises vendor account set-up information, account preference information, and/or alert information.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein: the information related to vendor transactions comprises automatic electronic transaction services associated with the vendor; and the third subsystem, after automatically transferring at least some of the gathered information related to vendor transactions to the new electronic account of the user, is further configured to automatically cancel the transferred automatic electronic transaction services with respect to the old electronic account.
 7. The system of claim 1 wherein the second subsystem comprises at least one facility for screen scraping, speech recognition, or optical character recognition to gather the information.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein the first subsystem further comprises an interactive voice response facility configured to interact automatically with an interactive voice response system of the first financial institution.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein the first subsystem is configured to employ user-provided credentials or ancillary credential information to connect to the old electronic account at the first financial institution.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a fourth subcomponent configured to create at least one electronic message related to electronic payments, electronic monetary transfers, or system alerts associated with the new electronic account, and wherein the fourth subcomponent is further configured to electronically notify the user of at least one of a status of the old electronic account, a need for credentials information, a status of at least one electronic transfer, a status of at least one electronic bill pay, or a status of the new electronic account.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein the old electronic account at the first financial institution comprises at least one of a bank account, an online payment service account, a credit card account, or a brokerage account.
 12. A method in a computing system for facilitating the automatic transfer of information to a user account, the method comprising: automatically accessing data associated with at least one previous electronic account held by a user with a first financial institution; automatically gathering at least some information related to the user from the previous electronic account, wherein the gathered information includes information regarding one or more products and services of the first financial institution employed by the user; automatically forwarding the gathered information for insertion into appropriate data fields of a new electronic account for the user with a second financial institution unrelated to the first financial institution; and automatically providing the user with information regarding one or more products and services of the second financial institution that are competitive alternatives to the one or more products and services of the first financial institution employed by the user.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein: automatically gathering at least some information related to the user's account from the previous electronic account comprises automatically gathering ancillary information including savings account interest rate, certificate of deposit maturity date, or loan rate associated with the user and the first financial institution; and automatically providing the user with information regarding one or more products and services of the second financial institution comprises providing the user with competitive alternatives of the second financial institution in relation to the savings account interest rate, the certificate of deposit maturity date, or the loan rate.
 14. The method of claim 12, further comprising automatically analyzing at least a portion of a transaction history associated with the user's electronic account at the first financial institution, and providing the user with information regarding one or more products and services of the second financial institution based, at least in part, on the transaction history.
 15. The method of claim 12, further comprising automatically receiving data regarding the user from other data sources external to the first and second financial institutions, wherein the other data sources comprise personal financial management data, credit report information, or publicly available information.
 16. The method of claim 12, further comprising automatically identifying incomplete or masked information from the previous electronic account with the first financial institution and automatically prompting the user to provide additional information in response thereto.
 17. The method of claim 12, further comprising automatically generating an electronic message for transmission to the user associated with the new electronic account of the user at the second financial institution, wherein the electronic message comprises at least one of a status of the previous electronic account at the first financial institution, a need for user-provided credential information, a status of at least one electronic transfer, a status of at least one electronic bill pay, or a status of the new electronic account at the second financial institution.
 18. A computing system, comprising: a component configured to automatically access a first account of a user at a first entity and gather information from the first account; and an automated switch kit configured to automatically migrate at least some electronic transaction information from the first account of the user at the first entity to a second account of the user at a second entity independent of and unaffiliated with the first entity.
 19. The computing system of claim 18 wherein: the component is further configured to automatically gather data associated with (a) an account held by the user with a third party merchant independent of the first and second entities, and (b) transactions between the first account of the user at the first entity and the user's account with the third party merchant; and the automated switch kit is further configured to automatically identify the transactions between the first account of the user and the third party merchant and migrate the associated transactions and the user's account information with the third party merchant to the second account of the user at the second entity.
 20. The computing system of claim 18 wherein the component is a first component, and wherein the system further comprises a second component configured to generate a report comprising (a) information about the automatic migration of electronic transaction information from the first account to the second account, and (b) exception information for electronic transactions that do not meet predefined criteria. 